Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:36-37
“Greetings, sons and daughters, in the name of the Lord who loved us, in peace. So great and abundant are the righteous acts of God toward you that I am exceedingly overjoyed, beyond measure, by your blessed and glorious spirits. For you have received such a measure of his grace planted within you, the spiritual gift! And so I share your joy all the more within myself, hoping to be saved; for truly I see that, in your midst, the Spirit has been poured out upon you from the abundance of the Lord’s fountain—so amazed have I been by the sight of your face, which I have so desired. And so, since I have been persuaded about this and realize that I who have spoken to you know many things (since the Lord has traveled along with me in the path of righteousness), I have also felt fully compelled to love you more than my own soul. For a great faith and love dwell within you in the hope of his life.”
Joseph (died A.D. 61) a.k.a. Barnabas, a Levite from Cyprus in the Epistle of Barnabas 1:1-4.
Don’t you love the use of the term “abundant” and “abundance” by Barnabas associated with the Lord’s righteous acts and His fountain of blessing to us.
Why does this matter? How does it relate to our generosity?
Barnabas was an encourager in word and works. We have no record of him speaking in Scripture, but he’s called “son of encouraagement.” This excerpt from the epistle attributed to him reflects that.
But what we do know is that he did something that few people are willing to do.
He did not give from his income, but gave his income producing asset to advance the Lord’s work. Most people treat a portion of their income as belonging to God and treat the rest along with their assets as theirs.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Everything we have belongs to the Lord.
Barnabas lives in light of this reality, I think, because he knows this about the Lord. The Lord is abundant in his righteous acts and abundance flows from the Lord’s fountain.
We only give assets when we live in light of the reality that everything belongs to our abundant Lord and His ability to supply our needs is abundant.